Is it worth getting Disneyland’s new $599 Flex annual pass? What happens to Star Tours after Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opens at Disneyland? We answer all your theme park questions in this week’s edition of the Park Life newsletter.

Stay Flexible

Should you plunk down $599 for Disneyland’s new Flex annual pass? We weigh the pros and cons and help you decide.

Brianna and her mother Maryanne Hartman traveled from Seattle to participate in Universal Studios Hollywood’s first-ever 5k Minion Run on Saturday, May 11. Runners were cheered on by “Despicable Me” minions including Tim, Tom and Stuart. The running path went through the theme park, onto the backlot and finished at CityWalk’s 5 Tower Stage on May 11, 2019. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)

Minion Alert

Check out the hilarious photos from Universal Studios Hollywood’s first-ever 5K Minion Run with the adorable banana-loving troublemakers from “Despicable Me.”

The Haunted Mansion, shown in its holiday overlay, has been entertaining guests at Disneyland since 1969. The tombstones that visitors pass as they wait in line pay whimsical tribute to people who worked on the attraction. (File photo by Mark Eades, Orange County Register/SCNG)

999 Haunts

This fanciful artist’s conception of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge shows the Millennium Falcon, a three-winged Lambda-class Imperial shuttle and TIE Fighters in the skies over the new themed land. In the real world, Disney has launched a war of sorts with competing Southern California theme parks. (Courtesy of Disney Parks)

Brady MacDonald is a theme park reporter for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He’s covered the theme park industry for more than 25 years. He writes about Disney, Universal, Six Flags, SeaWorld, Cedar Fair and Legoland parks in Southern California, across the United States and around the world. As a member of the SCNG Features team, he also writes about entertainment, travel, pop culture, music, restaurants and craft beer.

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